.Pro announcement today

[dotprofan]

I got the following email today from Encirca. Nice to see .Pro finally getting the attention it deserves!
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Just one week after announcing the acquisition of Affinity Internet, forming one of the world's largest web hosting firms with over 600,000 customers, Hostway Corporation announces a new General Manager for RegistryPro.

Filling this long-empty position signals a renewed energy and focus towards making the .pro registry a successful namespace.

Continue reading for today's press release.

Chicago - April 10, 2007
- Hostway Corporation, a premier hosting provider of innovative web-based tools and services for businesses, and RegistryPro, the exclusive operator of the .Pro top level domain (TLD) for professionals, today announced that Catherine Sigmar has been appointed President of RegistryPro effective March 29, 2007. Among other things, Ms. Sigmar will be responsible for managing RegistryPro's strategy, operations, legal affairs, and policy.

In addition to her internal responsibilities, Ms. Sigmar will lead in the registry's relationship with ICANN, and will contribute to setting policies for the promotion of the growth of .Pro domain name as well as manage the general environment of the .Pro domain name.

In making the announcement, Lucas Roh, CEO of Hostway Corporation, the parent company of RegistryPro said, "In Catherine, we have a colleague of depth, perspective, and global experience who also possesses the necessary leadership skills. Her international corporate experience as well as her background in the legal field will help enormously as we bring the benefits of .Pro domain names to professionals everywhere."

Prior to joining RegistryPro, Ms. Sigmar has held a number of international senior executive positions. Most recently she successfully led the strategic consulting group for the Americas at Intel Corporation. Before joining Intel, Ms. Sigmar lived in the UK where she held several senior sales, legal and operations positions with Invensys Plc, Baan Company. Ms. Sigmar had prior experience in legal and consulting roles with System Software Associates and Price Waterhouse. Ms. Sigmar holds a J.D. degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Law from University of Western Ontario (Canada) and a B.A from Queens University (Canada).

Catherine Sigmar responded to the appointment by praising the incredible possibilities that RegistryPro presents for professionals as well as the domain name industry. ".Pro will represent for internet users a trusted source for access to professionals. The .pro extension will be the vehicle that professionals rely on to establish credibility as they continue to take advantage of the web."
THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

.Pro was once restricted to users in just four professions from only four countries. All this changed when EnCirca introduced its ProForwarding service over two years ago.

EnCirca has never wavered in its conviction that .pro domains should be available on a world-wide basis to all professionals. We believe that further relaxing of restrictions in .pro are inevitable in today's competitive environment for domain names.

We intend to continue our work in promoting great availability and use of .pro domains throughout the global internet.

Sincerely,


Thomas Barrett
EnCirca

 

[sierra]

dotpro names area available to anyone and can be resold just like any other name. This is due to the structure of the dotpro contract and encirca's service. Encirca is a solid company run by an intelligent individual and will allow you to do what you wish with your names. If you really want an education read through all these links : http://del.icio.us/sports_betting/dotpro

Thanks for clearing that up - as far as an education though - I had read up on ICANN's rules governing .pro's - so it still feels a bit muddy that a registrar can circumvent these (albeit seemingly legitimately)

 

[dotprofan]

http://www.circleid.com/posts/print/spirit_of_pro_where_art_thou/

Spirit of .Pro, Where Art Thou?
Mar 29, 2005 12:38 PM PST | Comments: 10
By Thomas Barrett

On March 2, EnCirca launched its ProForwarding leasing service for .pro domains. When we launched the service, we were sure that the ProForwarding service would appeal to a segment of the internet community not being served well by other extensions: self-employed professionals and other small businesses. Based on the response we’ve received, it appears we were right.

It also caught the attention of ICANN and others, who accused us of “violating the spirit of .pro”.

Does .pro even have a spirit? And if it does, who gets to decide what it is?

As the most active reseller of .pro since its launch in June, 2004, we can tell you categorically, there is no discernable spirit in the .pro domain.

What does “spirit” mean anyway? And how is it different from “intent”?

The word “spirit” does not appear in any of the ICANN contracts. So, we consulted a dictionary to better understand it: “Spirit: The actual though unstated sense or significance of something”.

Close enough. So, spirit refers to something actual. Is this the same as intent? Obviously not. In the case of .pro, intent refers to what .pro was meant to be. If .pro had a spirit, it would be based on what has actually happened in the nine months since .pro launched.

In other words, spirit is analogous to personality. As a parent, I want my child’s personality to be assertive, honest and gracious. Every parent has similar goals. We all try to push and pull the right levers that we think will produce the desired outcome for our child. If only it was so easy! But, like it or not, a personality will eventually emerge. Hopefully, we’re happy with the result.

So it is with .pro. Through various policies and contracts, ICANN has tried to ensure certain characteristics will be represented in the “personality” of .pro. But ICANN can not control how the public will respond to these policies. In the end, the marketplace will decide .pro’s personality.

Let’s take a look at ICANN policy as it relates to .pro. Here are some representative examples of how the market has responded to .pro since it launched in June, 2004. The domains we use in this article have been altered to protect the privacy of their owners.

Law firms don’t have a license in my state. How do we qualify for a .pro?

You list your law firm as the registrant and provide the credentials of an individual who works for the firm. Rest assured, the individual’s privacy is protected and there is no way for the public to determine whose credentials were provided.

Can we register a law.pro or .pro domain as an investment?

Sure. You are not required to actually put your domain to use. If you decide to speculate, we suggest something that fits the .pro extension, but you are free to register anything you want.

OK. We registered cyberpunk.law.pro. Do we need to use it to offer legal services?

No. There are no restrictions concerning use.

Can we sell or lease our .pro domain to someone else?

Sure. .pro is no different than .com in this regard. Remember, the domain will still be subject to annual professional verification by the registry.

Can we register strings representing adult content?

Yes, although we would prefer you did not. But there are no prohibitions on string meanings or website content. In fact, the very first .pro domains were registered by a doctor for adult content.

I’m licensed as a lawyer and my wife is a doctor. Can we register meatball.pro to honor our favorite food?

Yes. As long you provide professional credentials from two different professions, you can register any second level strings you want.

Will anyone know what two professions meatball.pro is associated with?

Not unless you tell them. All that is known is that it is supported by two of the supported professions. Since .pro is intended to eventually support dozens of professions, it will be impossible for the public to determine which two professions are associated with the domain.

We actually want to use meatball.pro for our friend’s restaurant. Is this OK?

Sure. As long as it is backed by two credentialed professionals, there are no requirements that it be used for either of the two professions the domain is associated with.

The education profession is not supported by ICANN yet but I notice some good education domains were registered months ago. How did this happen?

When it was launched nine months ago, it was decided that .pro would initially only support lawyers, doctors and accountants. So, for the past nine months, companies and individuals from these professions have been free to register .pro domains across all planned professions for .pro.

Is all of this legal?

Yes. All of the registrations and situations described above were easily foreseeable by ICANN and none of these registrations are prohibited by the language of the RegistryPro agreement. There are no contractual obligations on registrars to prohibit or police these registrations. And all of this was taking place prior to the introduction of EnCirca’s ProForwarding service this month.

Should more guidelines be considered? Absolutely. For example, EnCirca has already developed its own acceptable use policy in absence of one from ICANN and will lobby to get it adopted by all ICANN registrars. We look forward to working with ICANN and RegistryPro on developing more guidelines for .pro.

But what about the spirit of .pro?

The spirit of .pro will be largely determined by those early adopters of .pro who make the commitment and investment necessary to develop and market their .pro domains. These pioneers might come from the ranks of the currently supported professions. Or might not.

EnCirca will continue to invest in new services for .pro and work closely with its customers to help them develop their .pro domain names. We realize our success is directly tied to their success in establishing .pro as a destination for professionals on the internet. Only then will a spirit for .pro start to emerge.

 

[sierra]

I think you missed my point anyway dotprofan: I was suggesting that this extension will not be 'professional' at all at the end of the day. So by you rubbing your hands together at one registrars interpretation of ICANN's rules - will only work against you in the long term. I wouldn't want a .pro extension for example - if it meant I had to share it with non-professional interests as it would devalue my 'intent'.

I think this extension may do well however (not sure though) - but if it does it will not be a 'professional' one - which defeats the purpose of this whole exercise.

 

[dotprofan]

If you had to sum up your point in one sentence, what would it be?

 

[bocanames]

Sierra, the point is that gated communities amongst sTLD do not work. Look at .travel, .museum, .coop, .aero, etc. Ever go to any websites using these?

.PRO must and hopefully soon WILL be opened up. As dotprofan said earlier it lends credence to the site with an appropriate domain. I recently parted company with one of the best ones I've ever seen, and the name illustrates this perfectly: graphics.pro - the name says it all.

 

[sierra]

Sierra, the point is that gated communities amongst sTLD do not work. Look at .travel, .museum, .coop, .aero, etc. Ever go to any websites using these?.

yeah granted - those other extensions are hardly pure - but look at com.au or the cleaned up .edu extension - they are examples where some tightening can yield results for all.

I'm not an advocate for controlling the market per se - but if you are going to create something to make it stand out for consumers so they know what they are getting - then you do have to do something about controlling that. I will look at .pro extension as the same as a .com - stands for really nothing (and everything)

 

[sierra]

If you had to sum up your point in one sentence, what would it be?

My main point is really contained above in response #28... and I'm not saying this is a rubbish domain or that ppl should be restricted from buying into it. I am saying that it won't be a 'professional' domain used for professional applications is all. Having one registrar do one thing (like encirca) and other registrars tightly controlling it (albeit unevenly) - seems to devalue the intent of this extension.